The use of marine polyunsaturated fats as a supplement (6 g/day) has been proposed for the treatment of patients suffering from hypertriglyceridaemia (Sanders et al., Arteriosclerosis, 5 (5), 459-465 (1985)). The treatment resulted in a decrease in plasma triglyceride level in the patients.
DE-C-4417851 discloses a dietetic supplement (spread) containing a fat phase and a water phase, wherein the fat phase comprises 70-90% (80%) medium-chain fatty acids, 0.9-2.5% (1.6%) long-chain saturated fatty acids, 3.8-13.4% (9%) linoleic acid, 3-8% (5.4%) .alpha.-linolenic acid, 1-2.5% (1.8%) .gamma.-linolenic acid and 1.3-3.6% (2.2%) oleic acid. This supplement is intended to be used for increasing the bioavailability of fats, which is required in patients having digestion problems with fat. Patients with increased lipids in the metabolic syndrome do not have problems with the intestinal digestion or absorption of fats. The supplement according to DE-C-4417851 is unsuitable as a nutritional composition for patients suffering from increased plasma lipid levels.
The enteral use of a food or drug component containing at least 5% of n-3 fatty acids and another food or drug component containing at least 5% of medium-chain triglycerides for improving glucose intolerance, insulin resistance or hyperlipidaemia is described in DE-A-195.03993. The food components should be presented in a masked or encapsulated form. No data on the administration levels of these fat components and on the importance of other components are given, and no clinical data showing the effect of the proposed use are presented.
EP-A-687418 discloses a fat blend consisting of about 25 wt. % of medium chain triglycerides, about 35 wt. % of a source of .omega.-6 fatty acids (soy oil) and about 40 wt. % of a source of .omega.-3 fatty acids (marine oil), which is proposed for the treatment of trauma, bums or sepsis. A total enteral composition according to this prior art contain 20 en. % of the fat blend, 20 en. % of protein and 50 en. % of carbohydrate.
A nutritional product containing 45-56 en. % of fat, wherein the fat comprises about 25 wt. % of medium chain triglycerides, about 20 wt. % of fish oil (stearidonic acid, EPA and DHA accounting for about 8 wt. %), about 25 wt. % of oleic acid and about 16 wt. % of linoleic acid, is described in WO 93/19624 as suitable for improving pulmonary function.
A similar product containing 45-60 en. % of fat, wherein the fat can comprise about 25 wt. % of medium chain triglycerides, about 8 wt. % of fish oil (EPA and DHA accounting for about 3 wt. %), about 45 wt. % of oleic acid and about 10 wt. % of linoleic acid, is described in EP-A-6111568 for the treatment of cancer.